Two weeks to evacuation:

Netanyahu to discuss solution for Nativ Ha'avot residents

After return from Germany, PM to sit with coalition heads to approve NIS 70 million alternative housing budget for Gush Etzion evacuees.

Mordechai Sones, 15/02/18 15:33

After Amona destruction

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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will hold a meeting with coalition faction heads this Monday to approve a NIS 70 million alternative housing spending plan for residents of the Gush Etzion neighborhood of Nativ Ha'avot, which is slated for demolition.

Security forces have been preparing to demolish the buildings in the Nativ Ha'avot neighborhood of Elazar in Gush Etzion, following a Supreme Court decision in December 2016 ordering the neighborhood's demolition after a disputed strip of land was found to run through it.

This week, the Civil Administration's Supreme Planning Administration approved construction of temporary structures for evacuees of the Nativ Ha'avot neighborhood of Gush Etzion.

"We welcome the approval of the temporary solution," the residents of the neighborhood said, adding that "the solution just approved is a temporary humanitarian arrangement for the residents until Nativ Ha'avot and the urban building plan to build hundreds of new housing units are approved."

The residents added "Unfortunately, this approval comes too late for residents of Nativ Ha'avot whose home is supposed to be demolished in another three weeks, and the residents will find themselves without a solution and without a roof over their heads until the completion of this solution, just like the residents of Amona, who have been without a home for a year at the Midrasha school in Ofra."

"Amona refugee camp"

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On Wednesday, some residents of Nativ Ha'avot attended an emergency Knesset meeting hosted by Likud members on the impending demolitions.

The ministers and MKs spoke with residents about their intention to delay the demolition, and about the neighborhood's future.

Minister Yariv Levin addressed the residents during the meeting, saying, "Believe me, I don't think I need to prove to anyone how much I care about this and how painful it is to me."

One resident wondered in response, "Why have you fallen asleep since Amona?"MK Nurit Koren, who participated in the conference, replied: "We didn't fall asleep.We're doing everything."

Amona expelees

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Minister Levin added, "I don't want you to live in illusions, that's the worst thing we can do, we should make every effort to act, but we need to prepare the alternative.

"The irrationality cries out to the heavens, and instead of addressing a problem fundamentally, we're looking for a specific solution. The problem is the human makeup of the Supreme Court today and the methods of access.We have to make a fundamental change in the entire judicial system - which finds solutions where it wants to find them."